Strongly condemning the killing of writer MM Kalburgi, Sahitya Akademi today passed a unanimous resolution appealing to state and central governments to take steps to prevent such incidents and asked authors to take back the awards they had returned to protest against "rising intolerance".
At an emergency meeting held in the wake of the writers' protest, the literary body also appealed to the members who have stepped down to take back their resignations.
"The Akademi strongly condemns the killing of writer Kalburgi and appeals to the state and central government to take steps to prevent such incidents in the future," Krishnaswamy Nachimuthu, an executive committee board member said, after the nearly two-hour meeting.
Today's meeting was attended by 20 out of 24 executive council members of the Akademi, according to Huirem Behari Singh, another Executive Committee Board member.
K Satchidanandan, who had resigned from all positions in the Sahitya Akademi stating that it "failed in its duty to stand with the writers and to uphold freedom of expression guaranteed by the Constitution", did not attend today's meeting.
"All writers stand together in their unanimous decision to condemn the killings," Nachimuthu said.
On the writers' demand for condemnation of "rising intolerance", he said, "Yes, we have have addressed that too," adding that the Akademi would be issuing a detailed statement soon.
The Akademi's Board meeting will be held on December 17, where it will further discuss the situation arising out of the returning of awards.
At least 35 writers including Nayantara Sahgal, Ashok Vajpeyi, Uday Prakash, Keki N Daruwallah, K Veerabhadrappa had returned their Akademi awards, and five writers had stepped down from official positions of the literary body, which in turn has convened an emergency meeting today to discuss the developments.
Earlier in the day, with black gags and arm bands, writers and their supporters held a solidarity march here ahead of the Akademi's meeting.
Another group held a counter-protest, alleging that the move by authors to return awards was "motivated by their vested interests" and the literary body should not buckle under "pressure".
Writers march in protest
With black gags and arm bands, writers and their supporters held a solidarity march here ahead of the Sahitya Akademi emergency meeting to discuss the returning of awards by eminent authors in protest against "rising intolerance" in the backdrop MM Kalburgi's killing.
Writers from different languages converged for the silent march carrying huge banners from Sri Ram Centre at Safdar Hashmi Marg to the Sahitya Akademi building, where they submitted a memorandum to the Akademi demanding that it pass a resolution pledging to take stern steps to safeguard the freedom of speech and right to dissent of the writers.
At least 35 writers from across the country had over the past few weeks announced their decision to return their Sahitya Akademi awards and stepped down from official Akademi positions to protest the "rising intolerance" in the country.
Akademi chairman Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari accepted the memorandum and said "it will be considered" in the meeting.
"The executive council of the Akademi should pass a resolution that it will take stern steps to safeguard the freedom of speech and right to dissent of the writers," the memorandum said.
The protesters has also criticised Tiwari's recent statements in which he dubbed as "illogical" the act of several writers returning their awards. They also called for a written apology from Tiwari against statements he had made about Akademi award winning writers having made gains from their award royalties.
"A delegation of 13 Hindi-Urdu writers had met the representatives of the Akademi on September 16 to demand for a 'shok sabha' but the Akademi denied to do so," the memorandum said. The writers said if the Akademi does not conduct a condolence meet for Kalburgi in Delhi, they will demand Tiwari's resignation.
The protest march was convened by five groups - Janvadi Lekhak Sangh, Pragatisheel Lekhak Sangh, Jansanskriti Manch, Dalit Lekhak Sangh and Sahitya Sanvad.
Eminent writers Keki N Daruwala, Geeta Hariharan, Anuradha Kapoor (former director National School of Drama), Shekhar Joshi and Javed Ali among others were part of the protest.
Called the getting together of writers as historic step in the literary history of the country, the protesters called for the Akademi to condemn in strong terms the killings of Kannada writer Kalburgi and other writers and rationalists and assure the writers that the Akademi would in these times of distress ensure the right to freedom of speech and expression.
"Tiwari has lost the trust of the writers. If Tiwari does not apologise and conduct a condolence meet for Kalburgi in Delhi, we will demand his resignation," a statement by the writers said.
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